The student dorm

                The high school has generously provided me with a room in the student dorm, a double with two beds, two desks, two chairs, two wardrobes and even its own bathroom. I’m sure there’s much to discover throughout the building, like the gym and other places students documented for me a few years ago; but for now, I am happy to collect my key, walk through the student lounge and past the computer lab, and hole up. Sometimes I’ll come out and wait for a turn to play csocsó, or foosball, and this always generates a crowd. I don’t think it’s because my game is so fascinating; the big draw, I think, is this is easy way of being together, the common ground in the drama of a little ball, the laughter in familiar little phrases we try out in each other’s words.

                At or before 10 pm, electricity in the dorms is cut off. Door and bathroom lights are still available but nothing else until 6 or 6:30 am. It saves electricity but it’s also very effective at silencing the great thrum of student activity. It’s a big party until then, music, lolling, exactly what you’d expect. Afterwards, if anything’s going on, it’s sneaky goings on, and I don’t have anything I want to say about that.
                At 6:30 the next morning, there’s a long announcement in those calm, evenly paced notes one hears in Hungarian, followed by radio. And we’re up.